Mauricio Pochettino’s surprising United States men’s national team roster gets to test itself agains two terrific Asian foes starting with South Korea on Saturday in Harrison, New Jersey.

Pochettino opted against calling in a number of big-name players, as Weston McKennie again misses out and is joining in exclusion by recently-transferred USMNT stars Giovanni Reyna, Malik Tillman, and Johnny Cardoso. Just-healthy Antonee Robinson and Ricardo Pepi are also given breaks, and that gives big chances to some lesser-known names against these strong visitors.

MORE — How will USMNT line up versus South Korea?

South Korea have lost just once in the last 19 months, and it was last time out against Japan — a solid team and the Yanks’ next opponent. The Taegeuk Warriors boast an 11W-5D-1L record in that period, and national team legend Myung-bo Hong is at the wheel.

Led by Heung-min Son, South Korea (or Korea Republic) are ranked 23rd by FIFA and 34th by Elo Ratings. The Americans are 15th and 44th by the same metrics, and this match as well as the next versus Japan (17th and t-13th) are their first chances to show out against top non-CONCACAF opponents since dispiriting friendly losses to Turkiye and Switzerland in June.

And that matters. Players like Max Arfsten and Alex Freeman were very good at the Gold Cup, much better than their displays against Turkiye and Switzerland. Pochettino knows this group can do great in CONCACAF, but the World Cup’s raised stakes will be closer to the level of South Korea (and Japan) more often than not.

How to watch USMNT vs South Korea en Espanol live: Stream link, TV channel

Kickoff: 5pm ET Saturday (Pregame coverage at 4:30pm)
Stadium: Sports Illustrated Stadium — Harrison, New Jersey
TV Channel: Telemundo, Universo
Streaming: Peacock (en Espanol)

USMNT focus, team news

The names on Pochettino’s 24-man roster are anything but predictable, but there’s a big-time in-form player in Josh Sargent and a number of North America-based players with huge opportunities to impress the boss.

How much will we see of Nathan Harriel, Tristan Blackmon, Sean Zawadzki, and Alex Zendejas? And is there any chance we see Roman Celentano or Jonathan Klinsmann, or is this Matt Freese’s 18-yard box for the duration of the international break?

South Korea focus, team news

The team’s strength is showcased by the stiff test they’ll present despite players excluded from the squad, Wolves’ Hee-chan Hwang, and Feyenoord’s In-beom Hwang perhaps chief among them.

LAFC’s Heung-min Son and PSG’s Kang-in Lee will get a lot of the focus, but the Taegeuk Warriors are deep and dangerous. Bayern Munich center back Min-jae Kim is a handful for attackers and Mainz midfielder Jae-sung Lee is one to watch.

USMNT vs South Korea prediction

South Korea are more familiar and complete at this point, but home soil and the fitness of Christian Pulisic, Folarin Balogun, and Timothy Weah should be enough to produce a number of chances for the USMNT. Can they convert enough? USMNT 1-1 South Korea.